Santa Clara paves way for local internet provider

Residents of Santa Clara will soon have another internet service provider to choose from since the village recently approved a master agreement and franchise agreement with WNM Communications, allowing them to provide service in the village.

Matt Favre, president and general manager of WNM, has been visiting municipalities in the Mining District giving presentations on what service the local company can provide to the municipalities and what the agreements entail.

So far, Santa Clara is the first to pass an ordinance and agreements, paving the way for WNM to begin the engineering and installation of equipment needed to deliver the service.

WNM will be offering wireless internet at first, and give residents another option besides giants Comcast and CenturyLink. That will be a benefit to Santa Clara residents for a couple of reasons, Village Clerk Sheila Hudman said.

“There are certain portions of Santa Clara that Comcast and CenturyLink don’t go,” she said. “The Dollar General, Fort Bayard Medical Center, and Terrazas Funeral Chapel, and residents across the highway, are all getting satellite and that isn’t always great coverage. This gives them a different choice of service.”

She also said as the village moves to developing the industrial park, they want to make sure tenants have access to reliable internet service for their business needs. She said allowing WNM to come in and provide internet service also gives residents who only want internet a choice.

“Some people just want internet. They don’t want phone and TV included and the other companies bundle it,” she said.

Santa Clara passed a master agreement that covers any connections to Santa Clara’s infrastructure to allow WNM to provide internet, phone, and television, but right now WNM is only planning on providing internet service. As they add those other services, they will sign specific agreements for each with the village, Hudman said.

The master agreement gives WNM access to village rights of way and easements and other village property to place its equipment to provide wireless internet and, in turn, WNM will pay the village $125 per month as an access fee for the first location and $25 for each additional location. The first location, Hudman said, will be on the village water tower.

“As they do their research, they will figure out where they need others,” she said. “Depending on the signal, it should be reach everyone in town.”

The village currently has 820 homes, 725 with utility hookups.

Favre said the village was an ideal location to bring their wireless internet service.

“The mayor is technology minded and he was excited to bring new options to the marketplace,” he said.

The company’s wireless internet also eliminates the need to cut open roads and dig up streets, which Favre said also appealed to Santa Clara.

“We are finalizing attachment locations and the engineering and installation and should be able to provide services early next year,” said Favre. “We do extremely well because we are local, we have local service personnel. We live here, we are part of the community and that’s the reason we get a fair share of the business. We are price competitive and provide excellent service with a face that they know.”

While he couldn’t provide a price on residential internet, Favre promised it would be competitive with the service providers that are out there now.

“We are finalizing pricing now,” he said. “We promise the community great internet service at affordable pricing.”

Favre said WNM Communications has been providing wireless internet and telephone service in southwest New Mexico for 40 years and has some of the largest commercial customers like medical facilities, and cities and counties because of its service and reputation.

The franchise agreement will only come into play if and when WNM offers telephone and television, as internet service cannot be taxed, Hudman said.

The franchise agreement will give the village a percentage of any franchise fees WNM bills customers for when it provides those services.